How to Protect a Home When Away in Winter?

kidMike writes "I have just accepted a new job in another state, requiring me to relocate. I'm going to keep my house in New England. As I watch the winter storm problems and electrical outages across the country, how do Slashdotters protect their houses (or cabins) when they are away in the winter? Is there a device that will call me if the temp in the house drops below a certain level? How about a broken pipe flooding the house? How can I keep advised of problems happening hundreds of miles away? (There will still be broadband at the house.)"

Rent it out

[camperdave]

So, just rent your house out for a few months. Let the tenants phone you if there are any issues.

Re:Rent it out

[WallaceAndGromit]

If all you are woried about is burst pipes, the easier solution may be to simply have the water turned off outside the house at the street (which the water company should be able to do if you have public water). Then drain the water out of the pipes.

Re:Rent it out

[thc69]

If all you are worried about is burst pipes, you aren't familiar with the results of leaving a building unoccupied. The only way to be sure it will remain in good condition is to have somebody live there every day. Sure, they won't clean the shower the way you like, and they'll break your toaster oven, but the house won't get robbed by a burglar who targets unoccupied houses (happened to my parents at two different houses), won't get burst pipes, won't have a roof leak that destroys everything because it wasn't fixed, won't get infested with pests, and so on.

If you rent it to somebody, you also get money.

Heat it without Electricity

[scoove]

If you're worried about bursting pipes (which you should be - it's an incredible expense if it goes and runs for days or weeks). The best solution is to keep it heated and you can do that easily without electricity, assuming you have either natural gas or propane.

Buy a blue-flame wall-mount heater and have it professionally installed by a plumber. It is a 100% efficient heater that runs off of propane or natural gas and uses a manually-sparked pilot light. You can adjust the manual thermostat mostly which is pretty unsophisticated - e.g. low to high - and it'll cycle on and off depending upon need.

We've done that ever since a bad ice storm took our power out for a week and now that we live on a farm, it's even more important. Plus, the 100% efficient heating is a nice supplement to less efficient furnaces. Put them on the lowest level of a home - e.g. the basement - as heat rises. It makes a nice supplement for heating basements too incidentally.

The small versions are well under $100 and don't take a lot of time to install if you're going into an unfinished basement. For not much more, the big units really cut your electric heating costs and pay for themselves usually in 1-2 years since your regular forced air furnace has to run a lot less (and at best, they're less efficient).

Re:

[pushing-robot]

100% efficient heater

Silly. Everyone knows only quartz heaters are 100% efficient.

Re:Heat it without Electricity

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice idea but if you are not going to be living there, why heat it at all? If the house is more then 30-40 years old (which is common in the north east), I don't think one small heat source in the basement will cut it either. My moms house (about 90 years old) has pipes that freeze when it gets below about 5 degrees outside and they live in it and maintain the house at roughly 68-72 degrees.
IMHO, I'd call a plumber and have him "winterize" the water and drain systems and have him walk you thorough what is required so you can do it yourself with some confidence the following year.

There are many things to consider for this do be a DIY though. The hot water heater, the drain traps, any supply lines for an ice maker, washing machine lines, toilets, the system may need to be blown out with air like an RV, etc..

As a bare minimum though, if the submitter does nothing else, at least close the water supply to the house, close the first valve within the house (if equipped) and electrically shut off the hot water heater at the breaker panel and open the drain valve on the hot water heater (some heater drain valves may be clogged with muck so make sure it is actually draining, you may have to cycle that valve a few times with water pressure still applied to get water to start flowing and clean it out, on a side note, everyone should clean out their hot water heaters like that at least yearly, I have have well water with a lot of floaties and I do it at least twice a year). Keep that valve open as long as your gone as well so any residual water that leaks through the shut off valves can drain out as well. The hot water heater drain is typically one of the lowest drains in the house so it would be a good choice to use.

I know this stuff sounds like a PITA but a broken water pipe is even worse. My neighbor had those old school water filled radiators and a boiler for heat. Something happened to the boiler while she was away and all of the cast iron radiators cracked when the water froze inside them. It cost her something like 10K USD to get everything fixed.

   

Re:

[scoove]

If the house is more then 30-40 years old (which is common in the north east), I don't think one small heat source in the basement will cut it either

Actually, the house was 60+ years old, very poorly insulated at first, had drafty windows and was located in Nebraska where we have /real/ cold in the winter. I wouldn't expect it to heat the house to a balmy 80 degrees, but it certainly kept it from freezing. Actually we found our primary furnace (which was 30+ years old, tired and very inefficient) hardly run

Re:

[budgenator]

we have an electric insta-hot which heats the water to 190 degrees under the sink and its plumbed into the gas heated hot water line so it really is a hot water heater neener neener neener

Re:

[flyingfsck]

Interesting - most furnaces require an electric blower to move air through the ducts and won't fire, if the power fails. The BlueFlame models are vent free - no chimney and no blower. They have protection against oxygen depletion. However, they won't work in really cold areas, where oxygen depletion is guaranteed to happen.

Re:

[eric76]

I spent a night in the hospital once when I was a kid because of a gas heater in the bathroom. It used up all the oxygen while I as taking a bath and I passed out.

Re:Rent it out

[smelroy]

You could also get an automatic water shutoff system. They monitor the water flow in the house and if flow exceeds what you have programed in as normal usage then it will cut off the water. Of course if you are going to be gone that long you might just want to cut the water off to the whole place anyway. Here is one of the automatic water shutoff system's [flologic.com] I know of. (Or as always, just Google it [google.com].

Um, that COULD work

[svunt]

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Re:Um, that COULD work [SPOILERS]

[jpardey]

Well, aside from two dead bodies, the hotel was in good shape. I'd rather have "REDRUM" on a door than a burst pipe, I say.

Re:

[Watson Ladd]

In the book the hotel blew up.

Re:

[nwbvt]

Yeah, except for the whole part where the boiler blew, reducing the whole hotel into rubble (the book was better than the movie).

Granted if your house is really haunted by an evil power, that may be a good thing...

Re:

[jpardey]

OK, let me get this straight. A Stephen King novel... is better than a Stanley Kubrick movie starring Jack Nicholson pretty close to his prime. I find that hard to believe. I'll have to check it out some time. If it was better than finally seeing what Jack was typing, seeing REDRUM in the mirror, seeing that bolt open, and a generally bright setting made horrifying, then that book must be pretty good.

Re:Rent it out

[Not_Wiggins]

Renting, at first blush, seems like a good idea.
However, consider that it really only works that way when there aren't any problems.

There are more than enough horror stories surrounding the "absentee landlord" scenario.
What if there really are major repairs that need to be made?
Or, more to the point, what happens if you get troublesome tenants? What if they don't pay or keep the property in good condition?

It'd be recommended to hire a trustworthy management company to rent/manage the house (but, even then there can be problems: like, reporting the property as vacant while collecting rent on it).

And this is your home, not a "rental property." Would you be comfortable coming back to your place with it requiring work to bring it back to the state you remember? Not that renters are bad people... but, you're more likely to see damage to property when the people residing there don't have an attachment to it (same holds for those facing foreclosure... ever seen a foreclosed property where people have poured cement into the pipes for spite sake? I have.).

Sure... could be an opportunity to make some money while away. If the gig is short-term, I'd look for a good friend to mind the place while you're away or see if you have a friend that wants to live there while you're gone.

If the gig is longer term, sell the house and buy something newer/better when you return.

Re:

[rizzo420]

that's what leases are for. the lease should cover a certain period of time and there should be a clause in the lease that says that the tenant agrees to vacate at the end of the lease. there will be no extensions.

people rent out houses all the time for winter or summer use in new england (depending on where the house is located). and they have to cover themselves for when they know they'll be returning.

Find a Neighbor you can trust

[BobPaul]

As a kid, our neighbors, who were getting up in age, began heading south every winter. They just gave my parents keys to the house in December when they left and trusted that we could take care of it if anything happened.

To facilitate this, he rigged up a 120v relay to a simple mercury thermostat. If the temperature in his basement dropped below 40--kept at 45 normally I think--a bright light would turn on in their bedroom window, which happened to face our house. It would be hard for us not to notice.

If the power went out, well, then our power was out also and we could go over and see if we needed to fire up the generator he kept in his garage or anything.

I'm sure something similar could be done to trigger a phone call [radioshack.com]. Just run the pushbutton leads through your mercury thermometer.

You could also install a managed or unmanaged security system that would alert you if doors or windows were opened. I'm sure some of these companies also have temperature sensors they can add.

Re:

[udderly]

why is it important to keep the temperature above a certain point?

Put a can of Coke in the freezer for a couple of hours and you'll see why.

Hire a house sitter.

[falconwolf]

Better than paying someone else to house sit, rent the house. Instead of having an expense you get an added income. If you're worried about not being there while renting the house out, then hire a property management company. Or you could get some realty companies manage the property. And they aren't that expensive, the going rate is around 5% of the rent. Odf course you'll still have to pay for any repairs but even then the managers cannhire and work with whoever does the repair work. Another possibility is to House swap [homeexchange.com]. This is where you find someone where you're going to who wants to go where you are. You live in their house while they live in yours.

Falcon

A house sitter.

[Atlantis-Rising]

Friend or relative you can trust. I sincerely hope you are not looking for a technological solution, because I left the autonomous robotic house minders and the holographic repair people in my other pants.

Re:A house sitter.

[smallfries]

It would easiest if you post the address here and slashdot and tell us when you're going to be away...

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I sincerely hope you are not looking for a technological solution

You must be new here.

Re:

[Mattintosh]

I left the autonomous robotic house minders and the holographic repair people in my other pants.

Really? I didn't know Building [automatedlogic.com] Automation [alerton.com] Systems [teletrol.com] would fit into anyone's pants. These systems are all quite capable of monitoring and controlling the temperature in the building, as well as notifying him of catastrophic failures (or warning signs of an impending one). They also all allow remote logins via web interfaces.

Personally, I recommend the Automated Logic one, as I've had experience with it and I know th

It's obvious

[malsdavis]

I would of thought most Slashdotters would prefer to protect their home with either a few Tesla coils or Prism towers. A Mammoth tank left behind can be advisable when your away base-raping however the airfield should normally be able to take care of any surprise threats.

Re:

[jpardey]

Thanks to the heat given off by the tesla coils, your pipes will not freeze. And if your house starts on fire, the coil should continue operating until the power line is burnt, preventing firefighters from approaching and causing water damage to your computers. Perfect!

Purge your pipes?

[crimson30]

That's one easy step anyway...

Re:

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

Making sure you really know where the low point of the plumbing is.

As a followup, pour antifreeze into drains so that the traps don't freeze.

Re:

[iocat]

It's easier to just turn off the water. You can have the city do it, but it's just as easy to do it at the point where the water enters your house (there should be a turn off there). (It's unlikely but possible the pipes will freeze and burst between the city hook up and your house if you dont have the city turn the water off at the street -- this is an enormous pain in the ass if it happens.)

When we close up our cabin, that's what we do (turn it off at the house and drain the water -- leave those taps ope

Web cam

[wile_e_wonka]

Option 1: Set up a web cam pointed in your living room, and put a thermometer in view. Then you'll see if there's a broken pipe, and you can read the thermometer.

Option 2: get to know your neighbor.

getting to know your neighbor.

[Harmonious Botch]

Get to know his neighbor? In person?? You must be new here.

Re:

[yobjob]

You must be American. Everyone in Australia and the UK watches neighbours.

Re:

[Rick17JJ]

Make sure that the web cam can also see what is on the floor too. He could watch for puddles of water on the floor from a broken pipe or leaky roof. He could also see if rat droppings are starting to appear on the floor. Thousands of rat droppings on the carpeting and furniture would be a real mess. I have seen that happen in a car and in a truck. He might even see a rat or mouse on the web cam now and then. Perhaps he might even catch a glimpse of a burglar. The thermometer should have a large easy

Wireless Cellular Camera

[Hackeron]

My friend doubt one of the nokia cellular cameras and it runs off the mains with a rechargable battery. You can text it to send you a picture of your home at any time, it will also send you a picture when the power is disconnected and when there is motion. Cool little thingy.

Re:

[Hackeron]

Oh, also you can phone it to listen what is happening in your home.

Hire a caretaker

[Vengeance]

Find some nice family willing to live there for the winter.

And remember: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Re:

[CheeseTroll]

Why the heck was this modded offtopic? Are you all too young to have seen The Shining and understand its relevance?

If anything, I might mod it down for giving me the willies. :-)

Come play with us... Forever!

Non tech solution

[Ajehals]

I know its not technical and nor does it have a wow factor or allow you to log into a web based control and monitoring page in the "interweb", but how about asking a friend / neighbour to keep an eye on it for you? That way if something goes wrong they may be able to help you sort out any problems without you coming back, plus they are more flexible, able to deal with the weather, any break-ins, any mail that doesn't get misdirected or anything else for that matter.

Obviously the issue here, and it a big one, is Trust.

Re:

[Ajehals]

(Almost to the tune of "this old man", or for you yanks, "that annoying Barney I love you song", you'll see!)

I Trust You.
You Trust Me.
Here's An authentication
Lib-Ra-Ry

With A Little Hack,
Password Crack,
Code Inject Or Three

All Your Servers Are Belong To Me.

Why keep the pipes full then?

[rolfwind]

Drain them. All of them if you can. It's not hard. Insulate the ones you can't.

I don't know your exact circumstances - if you live close enough to a friend or neighbor - have them look out the house periodically - I don't know why people try to do a job with technology that can only be accomplished 1/100 as well for 10x the price.

Re:

[Incongruity]

Technological solutions are imperfect and so are human solutions (i.e.: have a neighbor stop in every few days -- a lot of damage can happen in that time) -- so do both. The sources of error/failure aren't coupled, so they'll help much more in concert than they would alone.

google?

[Incongruity]

I found many many such solutions....with the first query string that came to mind after reading your post...

( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cabin+winter+ flood+alarm&btnG=Google+Search [google.com] )

Here are two selected more or less at random...

http://www.nextag.com/RELIANCE-CONTROLS-PhoneAlert -Three-501572782/prices-html [nextag.com]
http://www.norcoalarms.com/ezStore123/DTProductZoo m.asp?productID=1115 [norcoalarms.com]

low-tech solutions

[bcrowell]

Hire someone in the area to keep an eye on things, e.g., take a look around once a week and e-mail you. Drain the water from the pipes, so they won't break. Why don't you want the temperature to drop below a certain level? -- that's why you drain the pipes.

Start looking at smarthome

[Fallen Kell]

I usually don't like advertising a site, but just about everything you are looking to do can be done with stuff found on www.smarthome.com [smarthome.com]. From automatic water-pipe cut-off devices, to intricated temperature and environmental controls. Just look around. It can and will get expensive, but the water-pipe cut-offs are worth it the first time they engage and stop a problem before it is a problem.

People next door

[Mike1024]

Is there a device that will call me if the temp in the house drops below a certain level? How about a broken pipe flooding the house? How can I keep advised of problems happening hundreds of miles away?

Well, you could tell your neighbours that you're going away and ask them to check in on everything every once in a while.

Granted this isn't a high-tech proposal, but it would probably be effective.

Remote monitoring

[akirchhoff]

We use a device from this company to monitor our data centers for power, temperature and water intrusion.

http://www.sensaphone.com/ [sensaphone.com]

This should work, but you still need a trusted indevidual locally to handle any problem that came up.

With Linux of course!!

[notanatheist]

Seriously, http://misterhouse.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net] Automate your home. I'll agree more with the above poster though, rent it out.

broadband?

[kryten_nl]

There will still be broadband at the house.

Throw in a subscription to WoW and I'll look after your house as long as you like ....

Protecting your house

[Foofoobar]

I usually set up a series of pits and snares and then stock secret rooms with orcs and kobolds. It doesn't hurt to circulate rumors of a powerful demon living in the cellar in local taverns either.

My parents just did this, they left for a vacation

[Angelwrath]

My parents just left. Their strategy was to turn the water off, and heat the house at 60 degrees to ensure that they save money on heating, while still not risking the pipes bursting. They have a neighbor go over to water plants every few days, and that makes a lot of sense. If you need to leave your house for an extended period, make sure a friend or trustworthy neighbor is checking up on it every once in a while.

I myself didn't go on vacation so I check up as well as the neighbor. The house is probably ch

Obviously...

[astrosmash]

Buy an old P-III tower for 50 bucks, set it up with Fedora Core 6, Apache, and a dynamic DNS service. Add a cron job to reboot the server every Sunday, and maybe enable LogWatch to email you daily status updates. Finally, place the tower on the bare concrete in your basement.

With this set up you can check on your house from anywhere at any time. If the server stops responding, your house has been destroyed.

Re:

[jpardey]

It's better to buy an alienware rig. That way you can tell if you have had robbers as well.

Re:

[Ajehals]

fantastic last line. Beautiful.

Re:

[overkill1024]

If the server stops responding, your house has been destroyed.

...or the internet went out, but anything without internet access is essentially useless anyway.

there is a way

[Lord Ender]

Basic cameras are cheap now. Even wireless cameras are $70ish. Like $25-cheap. TV tuner cards are also dirt cheap. My advice to you is to set up a Linux server with a bunch of tuners. Put cameras all over the house. Install the program "motion." Set it to email your phone when it see something.

First thought

[tubapro12]

My first thought would be to setup webcams in every room watching doors, windows, sinks... thermometers... et cetera and setup a PC to stream them out somehow.

Yes.

[pizzach]

The most sure fire way is to burn it.

...I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?

Not to duck the question

[tkrotchko]

But plenty of people winterize cabins for the winter. I would contact the state extension office for booklets on the subject.

I know that you have to shut off the water, some people put plywood on the windows. Some people put a minimal amount of heat to avoid sub freezing temps inside the house itself.

Re:

[jmcharry]

Contacting the county extension agent is a great suggestion! In most, if not all states, there are county agents affiliated with the state's main agricultural college. Usually there is a home agent and a farm agent. There may be a marine agent in coastal areas. They have pamphlets on all sorts of things, and access to the latest doctrine on how to do things from controlling bugs, to preserving food, to who knows what. The best part of it is that it is almost all free.

Relying on broadband

[nick_davison]

How about a broken pipe flooding the house? ... (There will still be broadband at the house.)

Given the potential for there not to still be broadband at the house should the modem be sitting in a few inches of water/have water run through the closet it's in/etc. you may want to consider having whatever data the house outputs get stored elsewhere.

That way, when you check and get no signal, you can get a pretty good idea of what happened right up to the loss of signal rather than find, "hmm, the house is off the net, I'd better buy a plane ticket to find out nothing more than my ISP sucks."

Similarly, you may want to leave a key with a trusted neighbor who can go in and restart any crappy consumer grade gear that's managed to lock itself up.

In short, broadband's a wonderful thing but it's not as "always on" as you'd want for being able to monitor things from a distance.

Pipe solution

[edwardpickman]

There's a low tech solution to pipes freezing when you're away. It's an inline valve you place just above the main pipe. It has a standard compressor air fitting. All you do is turn off the water and open up the taps in the house and apply pressure from an aircompressor. It'll blow out the pipes and it just takes a couple of minutes. It's the only way to be 100% sure. The fitting is cheap and if you don't have an air compressor you can rent one cheap for a couple of hours.

Well...

[djupedal]

Friend of mine uses:
X-10 devices
Panasonic IP cameras (steerable)
Airport base stations
Mac G4 (OS X)

The software that actually controls the cameras is a commercial package which puts up an internet server - you log into it, and you can check individual cameras, positioning them at will; check multiple cameras with the images tiled; check archived videos; capture a live stream and play it back at various speeds, etc..

He can then use the internet and his Blackberry to log on and live view any of the c

Our vaction home

[pc486]

My family owns a vacation cabin in the mountains and this is what we do:

- Dual heating systems. One gas heater keeps the house warm enough (55F) and electric room heaters are set below that. We've had yet the chance to see both fail.
- The water is shut off. If a pipe breaks then at least it doesn't flood.
- To avoid water breaks, cover all outside faucets. We use something similar to this: http://www.improvementscatalog.com/HanoverAssets/I mprovements/large_images/264284zz.jpg [improvementscatalog.com]

may I suggest ...

[troll -1]

For temperature try Web Thermometer [freshmeat.net]. I'm sure there are similar devices for measuring water. I remember building a water sensor from a cheapo Radio Shack electronics lab years ago, there's really not much to it. From there it's just a question of monitoring for a signal on your COM port and sending an email or calling your cell on a particular 'event' (see 'man setserial' if you're a Linux user). You can also hook up a web cam and using something like xawtv on Linux via a shell script that can email pics. I

Don't substitute tech for wetware

[Srsen]

I'm sure there are plenty of nerdy tools to monitor temp, humidity, etc., just don't use them in place of human beings. You should still loan a set of keys to someone you trust to check it every few days. Sensors and software don't have intelligence to understand what's happening or anticipate a problem before it happens (such as an ice storm knocking out your power, leading to other failures, etc.)

Become enlightened

[tezbobobo]

The truly enlightened person would not care about material possessions. As such, it is better to protect yourself than you possessions.

Even Better Question

[popo]

I took a few weeks off work, and returned to find my favorite geek website had replaced its standard content with content completely unrelated to the topics which used to make it great. Even more disturbing was the fact that no one else seemed to notice.

What should *I* do?

I'm in New England!

[MarcQuadra]

Seriously, I'm in New England and I'm friends with a LOT of very hip, trustworthy, boy-scout-type people. Depending on where exactly you are, this could be as easy as draining your pipes and handing a set of keys to someone you can trust.

Definitely drain the pipes, though.

And message me if you need a human for anything... I might be able to help.

AIM: MarcQuadra

Re:

[thrill12]

I'm friends with a LOT of very hip, trustworthy, boy-scout-type people....that 'drain' your 'pipes' ?

You're friends with the Village People ? [officialvi...people.com].

No offense, but you could have made that sentence a bit more tactic (apart from the last - pimping - remark) ;=)

Easy solution to draining pipes

[litewoheat]

Let s slight drip drip of water run from all the faucets in the house. Running water is less likely to freeze.

Instrumentation Nah -

[the eric conspiracy]

Instrumentation doesn't help if there is an ice storm and everything is out for several days. Plus something could go wrong with the high tech solution.

What you want is to make sure the pipes can't freeze because there is no water in them. Blow out the pipes with an air compressor, drain the water heater and toilets, put antifreeze in everything that might hold water (sink traps etc.)

Webcams

[umbrellasd]

You can have them post up a snapshot every 5 minutes, and browse the current state of your house at any time. I'd just leave DSL running and put a cheap machine with Apache connected to the webcams, and then have them save a snapshot every 5 minutes to a folder you can browse remotely from the internet. You could be a lot more sophisticated if you really wanted to with products on the market (temperature monitoring, scheduled heating of key areas of the house). It depends on the objectives. I'm sure you

Hire a neighbor

[YrWrstNtmr]

All the high tech, internet, wireless, broadband hooptie is useless if the neighborhood power goes out for a couple of days.
"Hey...here's $200. Keep an eye on the place for a couple of months and water the plants." Turn the water off at the street and turn the heat down.

I'll tell you how

[93 Escort Wagon]

"how do Slashdotters protect their houses (or cabins) when they are away in the winter?"

Well, I'd guess the average Slashdotter just lets their parents worry about that sort of thing...

Protecting Your Home

[almostmanda]

I suggest leaving your youngest child at home to take care of the place. Leave adequate supplies, like paint buckets, firecrackers, cardboard cutouts of famous people, some 1950s gangster films (that you wouldn't let him watch otherwise), a tarantula, and a blowtorch. That should take care of everything.

Check your insurance

[gvc]

Many insurance policies won't cover unoccupied houses. Check with your agent and secure additional coverage if necessary. And hire somebody to look after your house. For money. With well defined responsibilities, like checking the house every k days and keeping a record.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't actually get insurance on unoccupied houses. Well, I could only find one price quote for insurance on a vacant house, and that was $14,000 per year on $280,000 of insured value. Your mileage may vary (I was trying to insure a house in KY).

Seriously. When we moved and put our house up for sale, we called State Farm and said, "our house is going to be vacant because we are moving and selling". State Farm Agent said, "no problem, just pay $36 for a vacancy rider and you are covered". Three months l

here's the place to start ...

[constantnormal]

... when contemplating any serious home automation stuff:

http://w3.misterhouse.net:81/ [misterhouse.net]

... and here's a site for automation hardware -- I'm sure there are others:

http://www.smarthome.com/ [smarthome.com]

sensaphone

[sykotec]

they're not amazingly cheap, but they use an ordinary phone line, keep calling til acknowledged, are battery backed... they're only meant to monitor power and temperature, but i'm sure you could interface something else if needed.

Step 1 -- don't let the world know about it

[Henry V .009]

If you don't want to get robbed, maybe you shouldn't post to Slashdot that you're going to be away for the winter? You link to your website from your user account, and from there we can look up domain information. Your story gives us your state. Luckily, most computer geeks aren't big on breaking and entering.

Avoid problems

[nuggz]

Turn off the water.
Maybe leave your furnace just above freezing.
Be sure to forward or have your mail stored.

Don't count on computers and monitoring..

[the_rajah]

I've had three outages here at our house in the Midwest within the past 6 months that exceeded 12 hours. A category 2 tornado - no power for a full week and no broadband for 4 more days. One squirrel committing suicide in the substation - 13 hours outage, no broadband. Ice storm a couple weeks ago - 16 hours outage, and I'm one of the really lucky ones. In all cases there was no broadband until power was restored. I've got a generator and my computers worked, but the cable has nodes/repeaters that don't hav

The Answer is "HomeSaver"

[Dr. Null]

You need HomeSaver See http://www.qsystemsengineering.com/ [qsystemsengineering.com] Dr. Null

EvoCam 3.6

[mitchell_pgh]

While this is a Mac solution, you could always pick up a Mac mini. This has motion detection, and can initiate an Apple Script.

http://www.evological.com/evocam.html [evological.com]

Alerting the police that you will be leaving, setting up an EvoCam Mac to alert you via text and to video anyone entering, and perhaps a few lights on different timers would do the trick.

Warning on Remote House Controls

[JoeCommodore]

Living up in the foothills in California I have recently heard of some area house fires happening up here partly because the owners in the Valley activate the heating system via internet or whatever and does not know the condition of the house or system (whether there is a critter caught in the furnace or there is a wiring short). Anyway without human supervision these houses burn for a while unattended.

Don't forget...

[ezratrumpet]

...to tell the police that your house will be unoccupied.

I second the motion about renting the house. A local real estate agent would probably handle the details for you in exchange for a portion of the rent.

active vs. passive

[TheSHAD0W]

There are several basic steps that you can use to winterize an unoccupied house. Shutting off the water supply is one good idea. There are also chemicals you pour into drains that will stay in the traps without evaporating and keep sewage fumes and critters from entering the house. Shuttering the windows would also be smart.

If you have shut off the water than keeping the house above freezing may not be absolutely necessary. Allowing it to get too cold might cause other problems with lumber shrinking and with water that's stuck in the pipes freezing. I recommend you have several electric heaters plugged in with their thermostats set to the minimum; that way if the house gets too cold, or if your main heater fails, they'll kick in and keep things from going below zero centigrade.

As for remote monitoring, I'd recommend using a more old-fashioned approach; disable call-answering if you have it, and get an old fashioned answering machine. Then call it once per day. If it picks up, great; if not, either the electric or the phone line is down.

"Accidentally" Leave a Kid At Home

[the JoshMeister]

Queue up Home Alone [imdb.com] on Netflix, dude. Assuming you've got a kid (and yes, I realize that this is Slashdot, so that's quite an assumption), your best bet is to "accidentally" leave your kid at your house when you leave town. The benefits are substantial:

1. Your kid will have the time of his life
2. You'll get some "alone time" with your spouse
3. If Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern come a-knockin', your kid will kick their butts
4. Profit! (from not having to pay anyone to watch the place)

Here's what we do

[Phat_Tony]

We have two old (1913) non-winterized summer homes that are empty 9 months out of the year. Nothing's fool proof, but we, and our neighbors with neighboring cottages, haven't had any really huge problems in, well about 60 years, and since all seven cottages that are contemporaries of ours are still there, apparently nothing cottage-ending has occurred in 90+ years.

Turn off the water. Open the taps and drain the system backwards from the lowest point. Flush the toilets. Unscrew the j-traps under the sinks and dump them.

Empty, unplug, open, and defrost the fridge/freezer.

Shut off the power at the primary circuit breaker.

Buy a rubbermaid container and put any liquids you're leaving at the house in it- shampoo, 409, drain cleaner, liquid soap, batteries, whatever.

Unplug everything from all the wall outlets.

Lock up.

Keep your roof in good repair. Don't wait for it to start leaking before you replace it, just replace it every 15 years or whatever. Keep an eye on it.

Find someone local who you trust, preferably a neighbor or someone whose commute takes them past or right near the house and pay them a small fee to drive by the house and take a look once a week, and walk around it once a month. Even if they're a friend and insist that they'd be happy to look after your place, insist upon paying them something. It's only fair for their time, and it makes it more likely they'll take the obligation seriously.

There are no guarantees, but it works for us. We've only had one problem big enough to file an insurance claim over for one of the two cottages in 60 years. They're both in the woods and a tree fell on one. The property watcher noticed it the next day and the damages weren't too exorbitant.

Good luck. Install a burglar alarm.

Some LJ articles...

[kebes]

I have to agree with the various posts that a technological solution is not going to fix all your problems. Even with a good alarm system and all kinds of fancy automation and webcams, there are some things that only a real person living in the place (or checking on it regularly) will be able to notice.

That having been said, here are some links to Linux Journal articles about doing various home-automation stuff. Perhaps if you implement these, along with a good alarm, and some relatives/friends help, you can have the peace of mind you need:

Home Automation using Python:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8513 [linuxjournal.com]

Remote Temperature Monitoring:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8780 [linuxjournal.com]

Automated Temperature Control:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9091 [linuxjournal.com]

Winterize your home

[BanjoBob]

I winterize my mountain cabin every year and since the late '60s have not had a problem. Considering that it gets to -40 or colder every winter in the mountains where it is, I know that things would freeze if I let them. The frost line is at least 2 feet below the surface too.

Turn off all the water at the mains. If you use a well, drain the lines, tank and pump. (You'll need to bring water when you return to prime the system but usually only 5 gallons or less is needed.) Usually a valve in or near your front yard will control the water to your home. Just turn it off. If you can't find it, there is also a valve in your home that does the same thing but, it is exposed.

Then drain everything that has water in it -- don't forget the hot water heater, toilet tanks, etc.

Pour a half bottle of antifreeze down the sinks, into the dishwasher, toilets, and other plumbing that can't be drained. If you are on Septic system, make sure you use an antifreeze product that won't kill your tank!!! Leave all the doors under sinks and such open to allow residual heat to get to the pipes.

Have a nice trip! Bring priming water with you or get some near by when you return. Turn on the power. If you're on a well, prime the pump and turn it on. Run the water for about 5 minutes on every faucet to flush the antifreeze away and clean the pipes and you're back to normal.

Low Tech

[failure-man]

I've done this in northern Illinois before to perfect effect:

-Drain the pipes.

-If you can't drain pressure tanks or hot-water heaters put just enough electric heat on to keep the basement above freezing. (It doesn't take much.)

-Throw a splash of non-toxic "RV" antifreeze in the toilets (bowl and tank) and drains.

-Empty and turn off the refrigerator.

-Remove canned goods.

This takes a few hours to set up, and you can just let it freeze.

Winterizing a house - I do it 200+ times a year

[keraneuology]

I oversee the winteriztion of vacant homes 200 times a year or more. In five years I have never once had a problem If the work was done correctly and nobody tampered with the plumbing system. 1. Turn off power to your hot water heater. If you know what you are doing and can do so safely, physically remove the hwh breaker (or fuse). If not, put a piece of tape across the breaker which should now be in the off position. Turn off power to the well (if any) in the same fashion. Leave a reminder on the electric panel to ensure that you turn the water back on BEFORE you turn on the hot water heater. Turn off the gas valve to the hot water heater as an extra layer of protection - if you fire up your hwh before it has been refilled you are out one hwh. 2. Turn off the water supply to the house. Master valves on both sides of the water meters if you are on municipal water. (If you are on a well, once the power is off open a faucet and let your pressure tank run dry at this point - different than opening the valves in the step further down. If you don't do this you run the risk of losing your pressure tank which can cause your well to burn out. My house was sitting vacant for about 2 years before I bought it and this was a problem.) 3. Hook up a hose to the hwh and drain the water to your floor drain, sump pit or out the window. Opening the highest hot water valve in the house will help it drain quicker. 4. Open the lowest and highest cold water valves in the house to allow those pipes to drain 5. Using an air compressor, blow out the supply lines throughout the house. Any decent plumber can tell you how or google up some accurate information. 6. Scoop out as much water from toilet tanks as you can. 7. Get the *PINK* antifreeze (RV/Marine). Pour generous quantities into the toilet tanks, bowls, and down all of your drains. Pour some into your dishwasher and washing machine and run a partial cycle (no rinse) to get the antifreeze into the pumps and internal hoses. If you have a pool or hot tub you will need to take some additional steps, for the most part along these lines. Above ground pools and some in-ground pools without rigid covers get a large, inflatable air pillow floated in the middle to make the cover slope down towards the edges so the water and ice doesn't puncture a hole in the middle, gets some (but not all!) of the water drained and may or may not need plugs for the water intakes. Your miles may vary, consult a pro on these devices. If you have boiler, consult an expert. Draining water and/or filling with antifreeze is a bit involved and entirely inadvisable in some cases - I've seen many older systems go down for winterization then never come back up because of issues with old seals, corrosion and other nasties. If you have steam heat then things can become even more muddled about. Again, consult an expert. Finally, on your way out, hit the power to the master breaker. When you return you will be able to restore power to the house and will be glad of the tape (or removed breakers) that serve as a reminder not to turn on the well or hot water heater until you are actually ready to do so. Turn off the gas/propane at the master valve.

Re:

[cepler]

Do not ONLY shut the water off, drain the lines as well. You can also leave one faucet on a lower level open very slightly (after shutting the water off to allow room for expansion as well.

Re:

[frazzydee]

Just to reiterate this, make CERTAIN you drain your pipes COMPLETELY if you're going to shut them off...just shutting them off is incredibly stupid advice that my family followed one winter. We came home to a complete disaster. Pipes burst in multiple places, we had no water for days, and it would've cost a fortune if we didn't have connections to a plumber that someone knows personally. Remember: water expands when frozen, so this isn't as much of an issue if you leave your heating on (which will cost a

Re:

[RipTides9x]

Dammit, by the time I submitted my post I realized I forgot to finish adding that bit. Also take note of the types of pipe in your home. Hard plastic PVC/CPVC pipes get very brittle with the cold and will tend to split in multiple places, having several faucets left open after draining the pipes can help prevent pipes splitting in areas that may hold water even after draining. Copper pipe, depending on type (type = thickness), has a better resistance to freezing and splitting, but a hard freeze in a coppe

Re:

[gent00]

Call a plumber experienced with winterizing vacation homes. Install a monitored alarm and have a friend setup as a contact. Try a construction/home maintenance forum.

Re:

[dacohen]

Not sure if this would help http://www.liquidbreaker.com/ [liquidbreaker.com] but it has an internet connection, allows you to monitor the water from afar, as well as monitor temperature of water pipes

Re:

[ve3snw]

Shutting off the water is just the first step. Open the lowest tap and let the system drain. Fill the drain traps and toilets with antifreeze solution so they don't freeze up and crack. I don't know how you heat your place but gas furnaces and water heaters have a "vacation" setting so check your heat sources. A couple of light timers would be handy to make the place look lived in. You should also check with your insurance company as many policies state that the dwelling must be occupied to be insured, or a